The Review

All posts, comments andstatements made on IR are those of the authors only. Any disputes must be addressed to the writers, who are solely responsible for their posts, comments and statements. We reserve the right to deny or remove comments. Content may not be used without permission of the author.

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Thomas More Society weighs in on Illinois gay marriage bill

From Thomas More Society - a National Public Interest Law Firm -

Dear Member of the Illinois
General Assembly:

We strongly encourage you to oppose the “Illinois Religious
Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.” From our experience protecting the
constitutional rights of Illinois residents for over 15 years, we believe that
this Act is both unnecessary and gravely harmful to religious liberty rights.
In 2010, the General Assembly enacted a civil union law which provided the same
rights and privileges to civil union couples as are enjoyed by married couples.
Because of that civil union law, Illinois’ same-sex civil union couples already
have the same substantive legal rights as married couples do.

However, if you vote “yes” to the proposed same-sex
marriage bill, you will harm your constituents in two primary ways:

1) You will declare your constituents who believe that
marriage is a union of one man and one woman to be bigots and discriminators. You will further ensure that this declaration is
reinforced through official government policy. For instance, as in other
states, you may see public schools in your district instruct children,
beginning in kindergarten, that (a) same-sex couples and same-sex sexual
activity are the same as opposite-sex married couples and opposite-sex marital
sexual activity or that (b) kids do not need both a mom and a dad – two moms or
two dads are just as good. Parents in your district who disagree have no right
under law to opt their young children out of this kind of instruction.

2) You will strip away the meager religious liberty
protections of the 2010 civil union law, as these protections are not included
in the 2013 same-sex marriage bill.
These religious liberty protections currently provide explicit shelter to
Catholic Charities and other faith-based adoption agencies in providing private
adoptions. These protections also shelter Evangelical, Catholic, and other
faith-based organizations, including hospitals and schools, from being charged
with Illinois Human Rights Act violations when they follow their beliefs on
marriage in employment, facilities rental, and other decisions. Penalties for
violating the Human Rights Act include fines, injunctions, and other penalties
intended to force acceptance of same-sex unions.

What benefit would a “yes” vote provide to same-sex
couples? The mere changing of a title of a license – such that the license for
most same-sex unions would now read “marriage license” instead of “civil union
license.” And, if the example of other states holds true here, the words
“Husband” and “Wife” would be stricken from marriage licenses in favor of
“Party A” and “Party B.” Again, a “yes” vote on same sex marriage would not
grant a single additional substantive legal right to any homosexual couple in
Illinois.

However, there are likely more grave harms, yet unknown in
type and intensity, that will afflict your constituents who are faithful
Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Missouri Synod Lutherans, Muslims, Mormons,
and Orthodox Jews. The harms listed above are only the likely harms foreseeable
in the short-term.

The harms noted above do not begin to address the suffering
of your constituents who must participate in and support same-sex unions: small
bed & breakfast owners who would be forced to rent out their home for
same-sex wedding weekends; solo photographers who would be forced to spend
hours photographing and designing albums for same-sex wedding ceremonies that
they believe to be sinful; family catering company owners being forced to
prepare, feed, serve, and support same-sex wedding receptions, even though the
family members oppose those receptions with every fiber of their being. In
other states, such businesses have been fined and subject to injunctions, some even
permanently shutting down to avoid legal penalty.

A “yes” vote will inflict these harms, all for the sake of
giving the title “married” to some number of the fewer than 1% of Illinois
households headed by same-sex couples.

This morning, several amendments that purport to protect religious liberty were rushed
through that made the bill worse, not better. The
alleged “protection” for religious hiring is so weak that it wouldn’t protect
Catholic and Christian grade schools from being forced to hire teachers in
same-sex marriages. The section on facilities rental wouldn’t protect most
parish halls and Knights of Columbus halls from being enlisted into service for
same-sex wedding ceremonies, since many of those halls are not used “primarily
... for worship or religious purposes.” The section defining “religious
organizations” wouldn’t protect Catholic hospitals and healthcare facilities,
Catholic Charities, the Knights of Columbus, and other religious service and
fraternal organizations. Only time will tell whether organizations would be
forced to shut down or significantly reduce their ministries in order to avoid
the reach of the “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.” Of course, none
of this morning’s amendments even acknowledge the conscience issues faced by
people of faith who are forced into participating in these ceremonies.

Titling this measure, “Religious Freedom,” is an insult to
people of faith – your constituents who go to church weekly, quietly serve
their community, and merely ask to be allowed to live out their faith in their
daily lives.

Our national motto, E Pluribus Unum, teaches
us that while we are one nation, we are a union of many folks of different
races, colors, and creeds. Thus we teach tolerance as a solvent that
melds us together in a shared political community in spite of our differences.
This measure, however, that purports to foster tolerance, swings the
pendulum so far as to epitomize intolerance, forcing a vast segment of society
to act at odds with their conscience and to behave in ways that offend their
fundamental beliefs about right and wrong. In the name of tolerance, then,
this bill must be rejected.

Comments

Thomas More Society weighs in on Illinois gay marriage bill

From Thomas More Society - a National Public Interest Law Firm -

Dear Member of the Illinois
General Assembly:

We strongly encourage you to oppose the “Illinois Religious
Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act.” From our experience protecting the
constitutional rights of Illinois residents for over 15 years, we believe that
this Act is both unnecessary and gravely harmful to religious liberty rights.
In 2010, the General Assembly enacted a civil union law which provided the same
rights and privileges to civil union couples as are enjoyed by married couples.
Because of that civil union law, Illinois’ same-sex civil union couples already
have the same substantive legal rights as married couples do.

However, if you vote “yes” to the proposed same-sex
marriage bill, you will harm your constituents in two primary ways:

1) You will declare your constituents who believe that
marriage is a union of one man and one woman to be bigots and discriminators. You will further ensure that this declaration is
reinforced through official government policy. For instance, as in other
states, you may see public schools in your district instruct children,
beginning in kindergarten, that (a) same-sex couples and same-sex sexual
activity are the same as opposite-sex married couples and opposite-sex marital
sexual activity or that (b) kids do not need both a mom and a dad – two moms or
two dads are just as good. Parents in your district who disagree have no right
under law to opt their young children out of this kind of instruction.